The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope

Hope. 
In times of despair and hopelessness, where do we find hope?

 At age 14, a boy in the country of Malawi (in Africa), named William Kamkwamba, living during a desperate time of poverty and famine, found hope. He found it, in a library.

Forced to dropout of school because his family could not afford the fees, William sought a place to learn in an attempt to keep up with his peers, who were still able to attend school. What he found was not just book knowledge, but hope for his family and village.

Reading a book on science, he learned how it was possible to use the wind to generate electricity and then actually set about trying to build what he saw in the book. Using a tractor fan, shock absorbers, PVC pipes, a bicycle frame and other things he found in a scrapyard, he made a simple, yet functioning windmill. When local villagers saw him attaching the contraption to the top of a 16 foot wooden tower he built with the help of friends, they gathered around to see if he had actually succeeded. He did and he went from being a "crazy" person to a local hero.

Now he is a worldwide hero.

I have just about finished reading a book he cowrote with author Bryan Mealer called "the Boy Who Harnessed the Wind". I have never read a more accurate, yet inspiring account of daily life in the poorer parts of Africa. In my travels to Kenya for Go and Do Likewise, I have seen the same despair mixed with the same wonderful ingenuity, passion and hard work.

William's account has re-inspired me to continue with renewed vigor, the hard work of raising funds for the organization I serve with, Go and Do Likewise, and it's sister organization in Kenya, GAD Kenya. There is hope for the people in Africa, in Kenya. This world can be changed or in the case of William, a family and a village can be changed.

In this case, the change occurred because someone or some organization, helped build and supply a library. The library where William spent hours upon hours reading, learning and dreaming. I want to do the same thing for the village of Rionchogu, Kenya. Build and supply a library. Perhaps you'd like to help. Contact me at eaar@sbcglobal.net. Let's talk. I'll be traveling there in March of 2010, with a few others with the same passion to make a difference, one boy or one book at a time.

I hope you will pick up a copy of William's book. If you live near me, I'll loan you my copy. Or, take a few minutes and watch one of the 2 videos below, that tell a little about his wonderful story.

Eaar